Hello! I have just finished a PhD in Astronomy in Leeds. UK and am taking some time to travel around before I start a new job. I’ve lived in the UK my whole life in a few different places, but will be moving to Belgium in the new year. I love music (playing it, going to festivals and listening to it), doodling (currently experimenting with watercolours a bit), travelling, thai boxing and spending time outdoors. Doing a PhD has given me some wonderful opportunities and I've been able to travel around and meet some wonderful people.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I first couch surfed unexpectedly in Croatia when interrailing in 2011. I accidentally mixed up some dates and was lucky enough to stay with a fun, kind girl in Pula. After that I signed up to couch-surfing and through it have met some great people. I've couchsurfed here in the UK, Chile and in Australia and it's been fantastic every time! It's given me the chance to practice my spanish, meet new people and experience places in a different way. It's wonderful meeting people and seeing what they like to do in their local towns. I hope to meet many more great people throughout my travels and help out others when I move to a bigger place and couchsurfing is a great way to do that :)

Interests

Music (playing and listening), Jiu Jitsu, Walking/Trekking/General outdoors, Muay Thai Boxing, reading, getting into drawing more often, astronomy (love a bit of stargazing and hoping to try astrophotography now that I've got a decent enough camera!), also love movies (I'm working my way through the imdb top 250 films of all time, have passed 200!)

• walking
• drinking
• movies
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• swimming
• jiu jitsu
• languages
• beaches
• travel
• kickboxing
• kick boxing
• hiking in the mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Joni Mitchell
Janis Ian
The Doors
Kate Bush
Pink Floyd
Stevie Nicks
Fleetwood Mac
MJ
Ray Charles
Frank Sinatra
Earth, Wind and Fire
Carole King
James Taylor
Adele
Aretha Franklin
Charles Bradley
Beyonce
Flamingods
Tom Misch
Fleet Foxes
Flyte
Sufjan Stevens
Kendrick Lamar
Big fan of jazz, funk and classical romantic music

Books currently on my reading list:
- Ghostwritten, David Mitchell
- A Beautiful Question, Frank Wilczek
- One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez (read it before but need to read it again!)
- Don Quixote, Cervantes
- The Winds of Winter George R.R. Martin (when it finally comes out!)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Trekking the W circuit in the Torres del Paine national park in Chilean Patagonia

Teach, Learn, Share

Always keen to learn other languages, and if you like space we can have a good chat or two about that!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Very tidy and polite, have a good few stories to tell, like to share languages and learn.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Chile, Netherlands, United Kingdom